republicans including john mccain, lindsey graham and lamar alexander said yesterday afternoon on the senate floor that while they would vote against cloture this week, they would be willing to allow nomination to move forward when congress returns after the recess. quote, i think it is efficient period of time to get answers to outstanding questions would be in effect, said senator mccain. both the senate and the house are not in the next week taking a break for the presidents' day recess. we will again bring live coverage of the senate's pro-forma session that will get underway at noon eastern on c-span2. as always you can see the house live right now on the companion network, c-span. army chief of staff general raymond odierno is at the brookings institution today. he will be talking about the impact of the sequestration of the army and its future mission in afghanistan and around the world. he will have his remarks live on c-span2 starting in about 20 minutes at 11 a.m. eastern. in the meantime, wednesday defense secretary leon panetta told what could be his final press conference